We’re adopting, y’all. And because we’ve had umpteen questions about where we are at, when will the baby be here, I thought I’d start a series of posts explaining the process and you can follow our journey if you want!
To start off, we are doing an international adoption from China. Because we knew we wanted to adopt from China, we researched top agencies who place babies from there, and that is how we chose our adoption agency, Holt International. They’re highly experienced in all things international, and are seriously THE China adoption people – which is giving us lots of comfort in the process. I knew a Chinese baby was where I felt led, but when we really started the research, we found out that China was our only international option anyway – how fortunate that our hearts were already headed East! And the reason being for that is because of Dave’s age. Most countries have an age cutoff of 45-50. And my honey bunny is over 50… doesn’t he look so good for his age?! (Please write ALL the nice things, my friends. That way Dave will be less annoyed at me for letting the cat out of the bag on the ole, “over the hill” thing.)
Before officially beginning the adoption, we submitted a series of questions to the China team at Holt. Once we were sure it was a fit for us, we paid a fee and sent an application to Holt. It took a few weeks time, but they did approve our application and we were officially in the China program! Once approved, we had a phone conference with them where they went over the age of babies from China (minimum age we will see will probably be 1.5 years old) as well as several of the special needs that they’re seeing come out of the China program, to be sure we felt comfortable with that. All the babies from China are battling a special need of some kind. Usually it’s a minor, correctible need and sometimes it’s even been corrected before the child is adopted. When we felt okay with those things, we filled out more paperwork (a contract), paid the first round of fees and received a list of documents we needed to gather.
Next, we were connected to an agency of social workers in Indiana (Holt is located in another state) who specialize in adoption Home Studies. We are working with a lovely social worker named Kim from Indianapolis. We drove to Indy for an introductory meeting with her, wrote another check (Um, does anyone need to list their home, we are writing a LOT of checks these days!), and she went over the process with us and gave us a checklist of paperwork we needed to gather, as well as some things we needed to do at our home to ensure it’ll pass her inspection.
The China adoption process is not a short one. In fact, they advised us that from start to finish, to plan for 2-3 years. A lot of that depends on how quickly we get things done and paperwork completed. It really is very, very involved. Luckily for us, we have such flexible jobs that we can take time to get stuff accomplished as quickly as possible! We are currently on track to complete our home study in about half the projected time, so we hope to keep up the escalated pace with all aspects of the process!
On a more personal note, I really hesitated to write about this process. When we went into the IVF treatments, I had so much faith and hope. I was reading pregnancy books and parenting books because I just truly believed we would become pregnant at the end of that treatment. When it failed for us, I lost my optimism for a few months. As we’ve begun the adoption process, I have had to deal with some inner doubts and worries that I know are carrying over from the IVF failure. And I truly wasn’t sure I would write about it because of that big “What IF” hanging above my mind. What if we get denied for some reason? What if people judge us for choosing China and not domestic adoption? What if somethings changes politically and China stops allowing adoptions? But after a month of being really IN IT here and up to my eyeballs in paperwork, I’m trying to allow in all the faith again. All those what ifs are just my fearful mind trying to get in the way. I do believe we will get our sweet, Chinese baby and I’d love for all my blog-reading friends to come along for the ride.
We are so very excited. Dave keeps elbowing me while in public and nodding at various Chinese toddlers/kids/teens and saying “That could be our daughter someday!” and it’s the cutest, sweetest thing I’ve ever seen him do!
Oh, did I forget to mention we are getting a girl? It’s a girl! You get to choose in China, and we requested a little girl. I already bought her a backpack and a beach towel. Aaaaand, I may need to borrow the beach towel to mop up the puddle of happy tears forming on my laptop.
So what’s next for us:
July 2nd: Home study!
Home study report completed by Kim by end of July and approved by Holt.
Home study and I800A application mailed ASAP after Holt approval.
I800A approval by the federal government. (This is the government saying Yes we are approved to bring a foreign child into this country.)Timeline – 6-8 weeks.
I800A Federal Fingerprinting appt. Sometime in that 6-8 weeks mentioned above.
During that 6-8 weeks we complete a dossier. (Another 3 lbs of paperwork!)
Full 1800A approval sent with our completed dossier to China.
China to receive our dossier and LOG US IN.
LOGGING IN- that is a HUGE step. Means we are officially in line for a Chinese baby. Waiting to be “matched.”
Matching – can take 1-12 months. Once matched, we have 2 weeks to decide if the child is the right fit for us. We get medical records, photos, maybe a video.
If we accept a referral of a child, we send a LOT of money, fill out a LOT more paperwork and then that child is officially our baby. We call that “paper pregnant”.
I800 approval round 2 – USA government has to approve our specific child.
Once I800 approval is received, we schedule to travel to China with our adoption agency, Holt. They travel to one Chinese province per month. So we have to wait for the proper month/province for our child.
Travel to get little Miller – we will be in China 2 weeks. We receive little Miller in the first couple days, then proceed with a series of doctor/government appts while sightseeing and bonding with our kiddo.
Not-so-patiently waiting,
Stacey